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Robin Silvester: Port is a vital cog in local economy

Robin Silvester, appointed President and CEO of Port Metro Vancouver.

Photograph by: CNW Group/Port Metro Vancouver
, Handout

What our communities, provinces and country harvest, mine, mill and manufacture is shipped through Port Metro Vancouver to the world. The goods we buy from around the globe — the goods that stock our shelves and showrooms — enter through this same port. Port Metro Vancouver is part of a supply chain that begins and ends in communities across Canada, and it is the economic lifeblood of the Lower Mainland.

Port Metro Vancouver has grown and prospered along with the 16 Lower Mainland communities in which we are located. As Canada’s largest and most diverse port, we’re one of the region’s most important job creators: one in every 12 working people in the Lower Mainland earns a living because of a port-related business and many more work in businesses that depend on shipping goods through export. The port is the foundation of the local, provincial, and national economies, and it is vital to our common futures.

Port access to international markets in the Asia-Pacific means long-term economic prosperity, as long as we support existing trade and increase it in a sustainable manner. There’s no such thing as status quo in international trade, so we always need to be looking to innovation, collaboration and action.

We need capacity growth both at Port Metro Vancouver and in Prince Rupert just to keep Canadian cargo coming in and out through Canadian ports. We face strong competition from other global ports, particularly those on the west coast of the United States. U.S. politicians recently declared Canada is “diverting” U.S. traffic from U.S. ports to ours. We’re not. That’s not our call. Where cargo enters or leaves North America is the choice of shippers who decide which gateway offers the most competitive, safe, and efficient port through which to ship. The U.S. uproar indicates Port Metro Vancouver has become a successful Pacific gateway. Others covet this success and its resulting economic activity and employment.

The port and its supply chain alone produce more than 80,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Lower Mainland, more than 129,000 across Canada. These jobs generate tax revenue that municipal, provincial, and the federal governments need to provide the services we all require. All of these jobs depend on a competitive and efficient supply chain and infrastructure, and this is Port Metro Vancouver’s task.

While we are Canada’s port, we are also a neighbour — and we strive to be a good one.

Increased trade is good for everyone, but so too is improving the quality of life where trade and community interact. There will be friction. In the Lower Mainland, we are seeing different land uses press up against one another. The continued loss of industrial land suitable for port operations is a significant concern not only to the port, but also to our collective economic well-being and employment. Without a successful port, our economic foundation begins to crumble.

Port Metro Vancouver sees this situation as an opportunity for us all to take a long-term strategic look at land use in the Lower Mainland. Now is the time for us to engage in important conversations about land use and work together to ensure that our communities thrive. Yes, there will be diverse views, but our strength in the Lower Mainland is our diversity.

Bordering 16 municipalities and one treaty first nation and intersecting the traditional territories of several first nations, Port Metro Vancouver proudly lives and works here. We embrace the opportunity to address these diverse interests and identify community benefits in partnership with our neighbours for our collective good.

In 2010, we began the long-term plan that has led us into our current Land Use Plan engagement process. We believe that by continuing to work together with the communities which we’re a part of — with business, industry and with all levels of government — we can, together take on the challenging and important discussion of land use in the Lower Mainland. Better outcomes and choices, I believe, are achieved when everyone is at the table.

Planning processes are important, but what’s more important is the collaborative action required to advance them. Not action decades from now, but action now.

We are also looking at transportation and logistics efficiencies that will help reduce traffic congestion and emissions.

These include infrastructure improvements to mitigate bottlenecks and improve the quality of life for residents where port activities and community interact.

One such bottleneck is the George Massey Tunnel. When the tunnel was built in 1959, it opened up residential and business development south of the Fraser. Now, 50 years later, it is frequently jammed with local commuter traffic, Vancouver-Seattle traffic, land-border and port truck traffic, plus waves of vehicles heading to and from BC Ferries.

The tunnel is also a marine bottleneck. It was not designed for the size of ships used in modern day trade, which must access the Fraser River in Richmond and Surrey. As a result, the tunnel is becoming a significant obstacle to international trade on the Fraser.

Eliminating bottlenecks and improving roads and road safety for trade and community traffic alike is a port priority. We trade with the world, true, but this is where we live, this is our home. We want to be a part of a neighbourhood and a wider community that works for all who call it home.

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